Universe In Your Eyes
by cryingalpacas
Summary: "I think I'm in love with you." Yama murmured. "I noticed." Harlock replied. OR Yama is hopelessly obsessed with the slightly creepy captain of the Arcadia, and said captain isn't exactly emotionally capable of that.
1. apart

_**Chapter One**_

 _ **In which Yama is awkward and the Captain is disturbed**_

Yama couldn't quite grasp why the crew insisted on getting hopelessly drunk and beating each other up for celebration. The noise, the deafening cries that seemed to echo the battlefield filled the boy with disgust. All Yama wanted to was crawl into a dark corner and sleep for a few hundred years.

The _Arcadia_ had successfully exposed everyone to the truth about the Gaia Coalition and was now sailing in quiet open space. The crew was injured and beaten down, but the immense victory broke through all those feelings. Yattaran had led everyone into a loud raunchy song about a alien prostitute when Yama finally decided his time was better spent finding somewhere quiet.

Yama wandered out into the dark corridors of his home, listening to the quiet hum of the dark matter that seemed to be burning in his blood. The hallway ended up at the main deck, where a single figure was outlined in the sparks of lightning and lights of stars probably long dead. Yama's stomach flopped when he realized that the figure was indeed that of the Captain, his cloak fluttering in the darkness. How typical of the pirate to be up here, alone, instead of with his crew. Yama swallowed his nerves and padded out to stand next to Harlock. The man turned and looked at him, his single eye lit in a sudden crack of lightning.

"Hello," The Captain murmured, looking back out into space. A little voice in Yama's head noted how the angle suited the harsh lines of Harlock's jaw, and how nice it would be if his cloak didn't cover so much? The young man quickly pushed that thought down and replied before his head could come up with more ridiculous thoughts.

"Hi."

They lapsed into silence and both men stared out into the stars. The dark matter hummed and swirled, Miime most likely speeding up their travel. Yama felt an awkward desire to say something, anything, that properly convey what he was feeling about everything that had happened. Words to describe the horror at seeing his Captain in chains, the feelings that sparked when the same man started to cry at the sight of a single flower the represented everything he had ever wanted. But those words escaped Yama, and he hated that.

Harlock was leaning over the railing, his hair covering his face when he finally spoke again. "Why aren't you down with the rest of the crew?" His voice was slightly hoarse, but faded into silky syllables that sent Yama's stomach into a full blown panic. How strange that a simple voice could do that much damage.

"They were getting too rowdy for my tastes. I-I'd much rather be somewhere quiet. The view here is a lot better anyway." Yama winced as he realized the implications his words sent. He needed to stop staring at the Captain before he humiliated himself.

Ever since the newest member of the _Arcadia_ had come aboard, he had been horribly conflicted. Yama so dearly wanted to please his brother, to right all the wrongs he did to Erza. However, the Captain's deadly, yet beautiful visage, endlessly tormented the operative. Yama wanted to be around that mysterious hell of a man, to unravel the secrets he seemed harbor. It was hopelessly romantic and utterly stupid. Harlock had never shown any particular interest in anyone or any _thing_ except a few key moments, like when he dove out of his ship into the pit to riskily pull out Yama moments before he would have suffocated or have gotten eaten. All for a lowly new member, as well as a mole. It was baffling. It was the moment when Harlock stood on the railing of the falling ship, his mask covering everything but his single fiery eye, that Yama truly felt that he couldn't kill, _he couldn't destroy this man_. The Captain was too exotic, too utterly intoxicating, that Yama knew he wasn't going to be coming away without being much too enamored with this pirate. The Gaia Coalition could go fuck itself, this was something much more than they could control. A man who was much more than a man.

And that man was currently speaking to Yama as he day dreamed

"I have never been too fond of dealing crowds of drunken pirates. It's pleasant to know someone shares my distaste." Harlock shifted his weight and glanced at his protégée, his face open and inviting. Yama mused that perhaps it got lonely without anyone to talk to.

"I don't think I've seen you drink with the crew, ever in my time here. Don't you get lonely without the comforts of a person with common views?"

"I do not think my comforts matter when it comes to gaining respect. If I were to lower myself to the point of getting drunk with my crew, a certain degree of respect would be lost. There is a big difference between being alone and being lonely, Yama." Harlock turned and looked at Yama full on, his gaze penetrating and dark. The younger man swallowed.

"I suppose that makes sense, but being captain means you have to have a relationship with your men. I don't think I'd be able to hold myself so aloof, and even then you wouldn't necessarily be getting drunk with them. You can still be friendly without degrading yourself."

There was a long pause before Harlock graced Yama with his voice again. "No. You'll understand when you have the full weight of a crew of human lives on your shoulders. Perhaps you are already starting to grasp that. You are here, afterall. Away from the others," He said smoothly.

That threw Yama for a loop, his thoughts spinning away from his grasp as he struggled to form a coherent response. How to describe his grief, his longings into simple words? The longing for companionship, yet hating being in the company of others?

"I- I don't know how to describe what it is, but...something is different now. Like something important has fundamentally changed and I don't think I can get it back." Yama felt his face flush at the stuttering of his words. Even as he regretted speaking, something shifted in Harlock's face and a look of understanding bled through his carefully constructed mask.

"Would you like to have a drink with me in my quarters?" The Captain asked suddenly, sitting up from his position on the railing. As his broad shoulders straightened, a large black mass swooped in from the adjoining hall and rested itself against the Captain's neck affectionately. Yama reached out a hand and pet the bird as he replied.

"I would love to."

Harlock and his bird turned and started down the hallway, the red cloak billowing dramatically like it always did. Yama hurried behind him. They walked briskly through several halls, the lights low and flickering, until they stopped at a nondescript grey door. Harlock flung it open and Mr. Bird and Yama hurried inside as if they hesitated too long the invitation would disappear. The inside of the Captain's chambers were lavish, great red curtains and ancient tapestries of war on Earth from thousands of years ago hanging from the tall walls. In the center was a large oak table, where several chairs sat waiting to be occupied. The Captain pulled out a chair for his guest and popped open a bottle of wine as Yama stared at the gothic decorations. To his right, an adjoining room's door was slightly ajar, and the boy could see a large bed with lovely red and gold blankets that were spread neatly. Everything was as extravagant and dignified as Yama had imagined for his Captain.

Harlock shrugged off his cloak and laid it on the chair where he sat with flourish. He poured himself a glass of the red wine and leaned back to stare at his companion, the bird perched on the chair next to him. They sat in pleasant silence for several minutes, the wine settling Yama's head into a nice buzz. Hell, he could fall asleep right now, if it wasn't for the fact Harlock was staring at him straight on.

The Captain's hair was brushed out of his face and his eye was glinting in the candlelight. He seemed expectant, waiting for Yama to say something enlightening, and the boy honestly had no clue how to live up to that.

"What was it like, seeing Earth engulfed in dark matter?" Yama blurted out before his brain could gain check of his unruly tongue. Harlock heaved a great sigh and took a long gulp of his wine before replying.

"It was… horrifying. I was incredibly angry, but it ebbed away as I saw my home being _destroyed_. It only took a minute, but it felt like hours. Everything was frozen in time, even the other ships were completely still. When the planet was finally engulfed, everything erupted with gunfire and the hoarse screams of dying men and ships colliding was the only thing I could feel. Miime was struggling to gain control over the dark matter as we plummeted toward the planet I killed, and Tochiro was dead in my arms. I can still remember every horrid detail to this day, in perfect clarity."

Yama sat in stunned silence for a while, struggling to soak in Harlock's own words on the matter. Mr. Bird made a noise akin to a purr and tucked his face in the Captain's neck. Yama's face felt hot as the other man smiled at his feathered admirer. It was incredible how such simple things like smiling or speaking could completely wreck Yama. He couldn't decide to let himself be enamored or to hate those pesky emotions.

Both men continued drinking wine and enjoying the warmth of the candles that quivered. When Yama finally left, the large clock on the wall announced that it was the dead of night. Harlock had smiled a rare, dazzling smile that bared rows of pearly teeth, and told Yama to come back to drink with him more often. The other stumbled on his way out at this and almost hit his head in the doorway before telling the Captain, yes, he would definitely be coming for another drink.

Harlock shut his door, his smile turning wry as he stared at his door. How pathetic, to feel lonely without a person beside him. Despicable, to be so weak as to enjoy Yama's company. The pirate turned away and stripped off his shirt to get some much needed sleep.


	2. dreams of blood

_**Chapter Two**_

 _ **In which Harlock takes a stand and Yama is falling**_

Yama was falling into a black hole, his being ripped apart into tiny pieces and dissolved until all that remained was a fragmented conscience. Winds howled, disjointed voices screamed for mercy, and demons came crawling up out of dark pits even deeper than space itself. There was an ocean of blood and Yama was drowning in it, Nami floating away from his grasp. Then it was Harlock, his chest torn open, reaching up to Yama's face as pleas for forgiveness tumbled incessantly. Erza pushing him down into a bed of demented flowers. They held him down as his brother mutilated his struggling body. Everything shifted into a dark room where the Captain was pinning Yama down to the floor, his empty socket of an eye was bleeding onto the boy beneath him. There was pain and memories and blood.

He knew he was dreaming, yet he couldn't stop the screams that tore out of his throat. The screams turned into a blaring siren and Yama was jolted out of his nightmares into the cold sterile walls of his quarters, the attack alarm filling up his senses. He could faintly hear the sounds of battle through the walls, people screaming and guns firing. An enemy must of boarded the ship. Echoes of the nightmare pulsed into Yama's head and he stumbled against the wall. He felt absolutely horrified, but he couldn't just sit here and cry as his comrades were fighting.

The young man quickly dressed and grabbed his pistols to strap at his side. He ran towards the bridge; the loudest of the commotion was permeating from there. As he was sprinting, Kei shot past him screaming obscenities.

"THE CAPTAIN IS FUCKING CALLING YOU, ASSHOLE!" Kei shrieked as she shot down soldiers dressed in the familiar Gaia Coalition uniform. Yama felled several men, blood spattering his face, before shouting a reply.

"IS HE AT THE HELM?"

"YES, JUST FUCKING GO HE'S PISSED"

The blonde jumped over a body and started shooting into a horde of soldiers. Yama slid into a different corridor and came across Miime as she was also rushing past. She grabbed his arm and pointed off into the darkened room, her strange eyes urgent.

"Harlock is fighting off a rogue Gaia Fleet's ship. They pinned us and boarded us before we could skip. He wants you, it's important you help. I'm going down into the med ward to assist the wounded." Miime turned away and continued to run down the hall. Her hair brushed Yama's face as he skidded into the main control room.

Harlock was in the center of all the action, his clothes and weapons covered in splashes of blood. He stabbed a man completely through the chest, and turned just enough to see Yama standing in the doorway. He spun away from the body before it fell and barked out an order.

"Yama! Don't just _STAND THERE_." His voice roused the boy, and he charged into the throng. Every man was trying desperately to kill the pirate, but they had little success. Harlock was an unstoppable force, moving so quickly through the enemy's ranks they didn't even see him before they were shot down. The sea of bodies seemed endless, and when it finally ended Harlock was covered head to toe in blood and his clothes were ripped beyond repair. Yama stepped over several dismembered Gaia soldiers to grab his Captain before he was swept away, eyes Immediately turned to the gaping wound on his chest.

"Harlock! Stop, you're going to bleed out!" Yama cried as the man balked against his grasp. Harlock's eye flickered down to his own chest, then back up to glare at Yama in a way that almost made the boy loosen grip, the look so intense.

"Get off. I have a duty as Captain, and to run off and lick my chops would be cowardly. Unlike you, I know what I'm doing!"

"Oh really? What kind of Captain refuses to get stitched up and dies of blood loss like a coward?" Yama fired back and started peeling back pieces of leather to reveal a large, deep diagonal wound right below the Captain's collarbone. Harlock flinched in pain at the probing and stopped trying to pull away.

"Fine. But hurry up. I need you to be there when I make an example out of this attack." Harlock snapped.

Yama nodded quickly and hurried to get a sterilized needle and thread from a medical kit, and sit Harlock down on his throne to start stitching. The Captain tore off his shirt and stared as his successor's jerky actions . Yama nervously knelt in between Harlock's long legs and placed an arm on his thigh as he carefully cleaned the wound with alcohol and threaded the needle. The Captain's chest was muscular and covered in a criss-cross of different scars of many ages. Some were fresh enough to be stark red against his flesh, others smooth and pale as the Earthen moon.

"Hurry up." Harlock grumbled, his voice less harsh than last time. He was in a lot of pain, yet he never flinched with the tug of the needle. Yama was starting to get light headed, being pressed so intimately against this dark man, being able to feel every heartbeat that flooded his perfect veins.

The hand that held the needle trembled and the boy went as fast as he could before his brain decided to take any darker a course. The flow of blood had dramatically lessened, and the Captain seemed to getting calmer by the moment. He sat stock still until his companion cut the last stitch and moved away. Harlock shot up like a bullet, put his shirt back in a semi normal fashion, then grabbed his sword from the its spot in between some poor man's ribs. Quivering, Yama stood as well. His chest felt weak, and his mind took several moments to start spluttering to life again. The Captain's chest had been so warm, and as he watched that man stride away, he felt something akin to loss. He hurried to crush that feeling. After all, they had work to do.

Harlock led Yama and several men onto the offending ship. The Captain wouldn't exactly say what he was planning, but the group was headed directly to central command. Kei and Yattaran both were directly beside their leader, mumbling something Yama couldn't quite catch as they shot down offending soldiers left and right. The ship shook around them and Harlock slammed open the door to the control center to reveal several men guarding one of the Coalition's last important captains. Said captain trembled at the sight of the dreaded pirate standing him in a corner. Harlock immediately killed the guards before they could offer a shot, and grabbed the fearful captain by the hair.

"Yattaran! Computer, now! Kei and Yama, take this filth and tie him up. I want him unharmed. Everyone else, move these bodies out of my way." The pirate gave his orders in a loud, assertive voice, and sat in a clean seat to turn his face upon Yama and Kei's efforts. Kei had produced a long length of rope, and set to work tying his hands and feet. Yama made a makeshift gag and stuffed it carefully in the struggling man's mouth. The boy felt a flash of pity as the set him to writhe on the white floor.

"I'm in, Captain! Every feed in the Coalition's control! They'll see it for sure, those motherfuckers!" Yattaran cried, as he gestured to the ship's high tech recording system. Harlock grinned a horrifyingly primal grin, and lifted the tied man off the floor by his knotted hair. Kei and Yama stood behind him as the camera booted up with a loud crackle. Yama looked at the girl in confusion and she mouthed silently at him to sit and watch.

"Hello everyone who is possibly watching this lovely little feed. I am the pirate Captain Harlock, with a message to the Gaia Coalition and it's despicable minions. This-" Harlock shook his captive violently with each word. "-poor man was forced to send his men and ship into certain destruction by my crew and myself. Take this as an example before you make any more rash decisions…"

Yama's stomach dropped as Harlock pressed a pistol against the sobbing mess of a captain, and promptly blew his brains out in front of a vast majority of the human population. Blood spattered across the pirate's face, and he started to laugh.

"Every man you send after me and my successor will be slaughtered. Take this into account, this little life the Gaia Coalition had no qualms with throwing away, before putting in your support! Take heed, for humanity is far from dying out. We are alive! And we will not be snuffed out of existence!" The Captain kicked the body from his wake and turned away, his cloak billowing before the feed cut out and the ship went dark. There was a long period of silence amongst the crew before they broke out in cheers and screams of excitement.

Never before had Harlock taken such a violent and vast move. Yama walked behind all the others in silent contemplation. He couldn't decide on whether he was absolutely horrified by the actions of the man he so admired, or awed by the awful beauty in Harlock's face as he spoke. Kei seemed to be having the same doubts, as she hung back talk to Yama in a quiet voice.

"I think that was a suicide letter." She said breathlessly.

"A… suicide letter? How the hell was _that_ a suicide letter?" The boy replied, crossing the threshold back into the Arcadia whilst crew members threw out dead bodies to disintegrate in empty space.

"Yes, a fucking letter! The Captain has never gone to such lengths before you came along. I think that was his final battle cry, and he's going to off himself. All for you to take over his role, Yama. Harlock is grooming you to take this revolution to fruition. He thinks he's going to die soon." Kei stopped them in a hallway and put a hand roughly on Yama's trembling shoulder.

"You better be one hell of a captain, because Harlock sure seems to think you are. Live up to his expectations." The blonde turned and disappeared into another dark hallway before Yama could reply. He sunk to his knees and covered his face in his hands. Hand that were soon to be covered in the blood stains of everything Harlock had done, and his successor had yet to do.


End file.
